Not Everyone Happy About Teen Tanning Ban

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) -- Health organizations have praised the new law banning teenagers in California from using tanning beds, citing the increased risk of skin cancer for those who fake bake, but not everyone is in favor of it.

Tiffany Yeo-Meeker is so fired up about the new law, effective Jan. 1, she wrote to Gov. Jerry Brown about teens who use tanning as a medical treatment for persistent skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema.

Tiffany's family has owned a tanning salon for two decades. She says the bill Brown signed abandons those teens who use the UV light to clear up their skin.

"That infuriates me," she said of the bill Brown signed on Sunday. "Tanning helps to lessen the rash. I would hope that he was not informed of the whole situation."

It's written into the small print, but there is a loophole to the law. Teens banned from tanning booths could get back in with a prescription from the doctor.

CBS13 called the office of the bill's author, Sen. Ted Lieu, and was told the language of the ban does allow for a medical exemption, but a doctor will now need to prescribe tanning salon treatment. Finding a doctor willing to write such a prescription could prove difficult, according to one expert.

Dermatologist Sheena Chand said tanning salons are not usually the best option for treatment.

"With medical offices, you know the amount of energy you receive, whereas with a tanning booth you're doing it based on time, and so the amount of energy is very variable," she said.

But to Tiffany, it's a case of government playing nanny, taking decisions away from mom and dad. The current law allows teens ages 14 to 17 to using tanning beds if they have their parents' consent.

"There are definitely people who should not have kids, but that's a whole other issue," she said.